Month: October 2016

We’re just a few days away from “No-Sugar November”—a month during which I often challenge my patients to quit sugar for 30 days. I know, I know … how can I expect you to quit sugar when Thanksgiving is right around the corner?

(For that reason, it’s difficult for most people to take me up on that challenge. Sweet potato casserole is just too good to pass up, am I right?)

But believe it or not, you can make a sugar-free version of just about anything with a few good, healthy sugar substitutes. And to prove it to you, I’ve curated a list of 5 amazing recipes from all over the web that you won’t believe are actually sugar-free!

Say bye-bye to boxed pancakes forever! This Maximized Living Advanced Plan-approved recipe is sugar-free, gluten-free, dairy-free, and paleo-friendly. And you probably won’t believe me when I say this, but, they actually taste better than the store-bought variety. Go ahead and try it yourself. I’m pretty sure you won’t be able to prove me wrong.

Note: instead of topping these with maple syrup (or worse—the poor excuse for maple syrup that you can buy in grocery stores that’s nothing more than high-fructose corn syrup), try making your own sauce instead. All it takes is some frozen berries of your choice, a little water, and a few drops of stevia (optional). Heat in a pan and mash until you get the consistency you desire.

“Only 4 ingredients, and super to make” says the author of this amazing recipe. Instead of using conventional chocolate chips, she suggests buying Lily’s brand (available at most health-food stores). Also, she uses her own homemade, naturally-sweetened condensed milk. It pretty much doesn’t get better than that, folks.

This is sure to be a favorite at Thanksgiving! Sugar-free and gluten-free, it’s a great alternative to pumpkin pie, apple pie, and other popular desserts. Satisfy your sweet tooth with this, and you won’t even miss the sweet potato casserole. Make sure all of the dairy ingredients you use are USDA certified organic and 100% non-GMO!

There you have it. Now you’re without excuse, and you can safely join me for the No-Sugar November challenge. Quit sugar for 30 days, and I promise it’ll change your health and life. Who’s with me?

Many conventional doctors don’t believe candida exists, and the ones who do will typically treat it with prescription anti-fungals, which may mask the symptoms, and even kill off the yeast for a time, but are most often not an effective long-term solution.

Why? Because—like most other conditions—candida starts in the gut. Which means, to really rid your body of it, you must target the problem at its root.

In other words, you can’t just put a bandaid on it, and expect to fully heal. In order to get rid of candida, and keep it at bay, you must commit to a lifestyle change designed to balance and maintain your healthy gut flora. This requires several actions that you can begin implementing right away. But remember: if you truly want to see a lasting difference, you should adapt these changes as a regular part of your lifestyle from here on out!

#1. Quit and/or limit your sugar intake. Candida thrives on sugar. Did you know that, if not treated properly, it can also lead to cancer. Interestingly enough, cancer cells also feed on sugar. Our chiropractors in Charlotte NC recommend quitting sugar altogether for 3 months, and then slowly introducing it back into your diet on a very limited scale. Also, avoid processed sugars and starchy foods that metabolize as sugar, including: bread, pasta, rice, grains, root vegetables, legumes, alcohol, and most fruit (excluding granny smith apples and berries.)

To keep it simple, you could implement a Maximized Living Advanced Plan. This book is full of additional info as well as great-tasting healthy recipes that are easy to make and Dr. Holly-approved! You can also receive a customized treatment plan from our chiropractors in Charlotte NC when you come into our office for a consultation.

#2. Take natural anti-fungal supplements. You can find a variety of these on Amazon.com, including Solaray Yeast Cleanse. Look for supplements that contain caprylic acid (also found in coconut oil), milk thistle, pau d’arco, and grapefruit seed extract.

#3. Take a good probiotic supplement. Look for ones that contain a high variety of probiotic strains and CFU, such as Garden of Life Raw Probiotics Ultimate Care or Hyperbiotics (also available on Amazon.com). We sell Garden of Life probiotic supplements in our office as well.

#4. Increase your Vitamin D3 intake. Maximized Living Vitamin D3 + Probiotics lets you kill two birds with one stone! You can buy it online or from our office when you come in to get adjusted by one of our chiropractors in Charlotte NC

#5. Limit dairy. With the exception of culture-rich dairy foods like yogurt and kefir, it’s best to keep your cow’s milk intake to a minimum.

#6. Take oregano oil. This highly-potent essential oil is known for its anti-fungal properties and has been very effective with many of our patients. You can buy it in supplement or liquid form. I use the doTerra brand. It’s also a very powerful immune booster!

#7. Eat a spoon full of coconut oil every day. Not only is this a powerful brain booster (and great at combatting brain fog). It’s also rich in caprylic acid, which, as we mentioned above, is a natural anti-fungal. And here’s another bonus: coconut oil is a healthy fat. When you replace bad fats with healthy fat and lower your sugar intake, your body burns more fat for energy, instead of burning sugar. Which means you lose weight!

#8. Get adjusted regularly. Receiving care from a chiropractor in Charlotte NC is good for a host of conditions—not just for pain management as many people believe. By keeping your spine in check, you’ll ensure that all of your body’s systems are working optimally, as your nervous system controls the function of all your other organs.

Be aware that as you begin to kill off the candida, your body will begin to release a large amount of toxins into your blood stream. As that happens, you’ll experience the symptoms listed above in a greater capacity. Similar to what happens when you detoxify your body, you’ll begin to feel worse before you feel better. Feeling worse is a sign that you’re killing off the yeast and what you’re doing is working! Don’t let it discourage you. Stay the course and stay strong, and you’ll eventually get rid of candida altogether.

But remember: This does not mean you can go back to your old ways! Adopt the habits above as permanent lifestyle changes to prevent candida from creeping back into your life again.

Think you might have candida overgrowth? Our chiropractors in Charlotte NC have successfully treated patients with this condition (and its symptoms) at Queen City Health Center, so we’re well-equipped to share what works! If you’re not sure, click here to request a free consultation with Dr. Holly. She’ll spend about 15 minutes on the phone with you to learn more about your symptoms, and if we believe chiropractic care could be a good solution, we’ll get you in for an office appointment and begin helping you aggressively rid your body of candida overgrowth.

Pregnancy does some crazy things to a woman’s body! As a Charlotte NC chiropractor, I’ve witnessed it through the patients I’ve served over the years and am starting to experience it myself during my own pregnancy.

Receiving care during your pregnancy from a Charlotte chiropractor has been known to aid in reducing or eliminating symptoms like:

Pregnant women experience weaker immune systems as their body focuses most of its energy toward growing that baby and gears up for the labor and birth experience. For this reason, Charlotte chiropractic care is crucial to maintaining your health and well-being.

How does chiropractic care help to relieve pregnancy symptoms?

As the baby grows inside your uterus, your pelvic joints and muscles start to expand and move, which often puts pressure on your nerves leading to inflammation and discomfort, among a host of other symptoms (listed above). Charlotte chiropractic care helps in a number of ways.

First, it relieves stress, which can often be the cause of pain and insomnia. My patients have reported much better sleep after being adjusted, and I recommend scheduling adjustments at least twice a month, if not once a week, during your pregnancy. It can be especially helpful during your last trimester as the baby begins to put more pressure on your internal organs!

Second, moving your vertebrae helps by relieving pressure on the nerves that send impulse signals to the rest of your body’s organs. Pressure causes those signals to be weakened, thereby weakening the overall function of your body’s other systems. That’s why chiropractic adjustments are important to keep those signals strong and reduce or eliminate inflammation altogether. (Inflammation happens to be the root cause of most major immune system dysfunctions.)

Not only does Charlotte chiropractic care help to relieve pregnancy symptoms. It has also been shown to positively impact the labor and birth experience! Many of my pregnant patients have gone into labor a few days before or after their due date, reducing the chance for unnecessary medical interventions. They have also reported smoother delivery experiences, at home or at the hospital. I have had the pleasure of using special chiropractic techniques to turn breech and transverse babies into optimal positions for birth as well.

There are many benefits to receiving Charlotte chiropractic care during pregnancy! If you’re pregnant and living in the area, call Queen City Health Center at (980) 422-2000 to schedule a consultation with Dr. Holly. We would love to help you have the best pregnancy and birth experience possible.

We all have a sweet tooth from time to time (some more than others…). Believe it or not, there is a healthy version of just about every dessert you can think of. All you really need to do is substitute the bad stuff with better alternatives. And by ‘bad stuff’ I mean things like gluten and sugar.

Gluten-free flours and flour-substitutes abound and are trending in paleo-friendly sweets like brownies, cakes, and cookies. Lots of people have caught on to this trend and are taking advantage of it, due to increased gluten sensitivities. But you may not be aware of the dangers of sugar and the need to substitute that in your favorite desserts as well.

Besides the fact that it rots your teeth and makes you need to see a dentist more often, sugar is one of the most addictive substances on the planet—even more addictive than cocaine. It also happens to be in just about every processed food on grocery store shelves. Even if it’s not listed as an ingredient, some foods actually are metabolized by the body as sugar, including rice, bread, flour, pasta, as well as most fruits and starchy root vegetables like potatoes and carrots. Humans should not consume more than 25 grams of sugar per day, yet the average American consumes a lotmore, thanks to our bread-heavy diet.

Sugar is one food that most people are just not willing to give up. But, if you knew the amount of healthy sweet treats you could create using viable substitutes, I’m willing to bet you’d change your mind! So that’s why I’m writing this post. Here are my top 5 favorite healthy alternatives to processed sugar that you can start using right away to modify your favorite desserts.

#1. Stevia. Stevia is an herb found in South and Central America. It’s up to forty times sweeter than regular sugar, without the calories or the blood-sugar spike. Because it has a slightly bitter aftertaste that’s similar to licorice, it’s been slow to gain popularity among sugar lovers, but I think it’s a great sugar substitute in beverages like tea and lemonade.

#2. Xylitol. This sugar alcohol occurs naturally in foods like berries, beets, and corn and is often found in toothpaste and sugar-free gum. It won’t raise your blood sugar, and lacks the bitter aftertaste of stevia. Because it tastes so similar to sugar, it’s a great substitute in baked goods like brownies, cakes, and cookies.

#3. Honey. This natural sweetener works great in just about anything! I definitely recommend it over agave nectar as a healthy sugar substitute. Though honey contains sugar, it’s a much better alternative to the processed varieties.

#4. Maple Syrup. Bye-bye Aunt Jemima with your high-fructose corn syrup! Maple syrup is one of the tastiest sweeteners and it’s great for much more than pancakes. Try putting it in your pumpkin spiced coffee. I promise you’ll be amazed at how great it tastes, and it’s much healthier than a Starbucks latte!

#5. Dates. There’s a reason why we find this delicious fruit in most raw brownie recipes. It’s a naturally-occurring food that just so happens to be a great sugar alternative! Its consistency also makes it ideal for the crumb crusts found on desserts like cheesecake and cobbler.

If you’re not sure how to substitute the above ingredients for sugar, just Google Paleo versions of your favorite desserts and see what pops up. Once you try the healthy versions, you’ll never look back!

Queen City Health Center is a Charlotte Chiropractic and total wellness center for individuals and families. With locations across Charlotte, NC and Matthews, NC, we specialize in helping individuals and families find true health and ways to maximize their lives through nutrition, lifestyle classes, detoxification and spinal correction.